Heading up development of a feature adaptation of the legendary CREEPY comics, producer Josh Bruan spoke to FANGORIA about the process and working with TRICK ‘R TREAT’s Mike Dougherty.

Working alongside Chris Columbus’s 1492 Pictures, the potential CREEPY film is envisioned as an anthology, using tales from the great Warren Publishing magazines, Dougherty, who we’ve sadly heard little from since the wonderful TRICK ‘R TREAT, is an intensely appropriate fit and Braun tells Fango at San Diego Comic-Con, “It’s funny, the first week it was announced, the property and us having acquired it, we got a call out of the blue from Mike Dougherty. He said, ‘I just want you to know that there is a story called ‘Sunday Dinner’ that I’ve always loved my whole life and it’s part of the reason I work in the entertainment business, it inspired me to work in horror. So, if you ever do anything, you have to promise me I can do that.’ We stayed in touch over the years and then when we started talking to Chris Columbus and we ended up working out this deal for him to sort of be the tip of the spear for an anthology horror film, he mentioned he had been working on another project with Mike Dougherty. We said, ‘All you have to do is mention CREEPY and EERIE and he’s going to want to come on board,’ and that’s exactly what happened. TRICK ‘R TREAT, that was a great template for an anthology horror film that breaks the model a little bit. He’s going to be writing the script and he may end up directing one of the segments, he may end up just writing. It depends on the schedule.”

During yesterday’s panel honoring both the past and future of CREEPY and EERIE, Braun also mentioned CREEPY #29’s “The Summer House” was a favorite for potential film adaptation. Whether within the anthology or full length itself, is unknown, as Braun explains, “Within the whole library, there’s so many stories, so many properties that we’ll be developing stand alone’s, as well. Whichever comes out of the gate first, we’ll see.”

CREEPY was first published in 1964. It and sister publication EERIE ran for 284 issues, using the imaginations of comics legends like Steve Ditko, Al Williamson and Frank Frazetta. There is now a contemporary revitalization over at Dark Horse Comics.

About the author

Samuel Zimmerman

Fangoria.com Managing Editor Samuel Zimmerman has been at FANGORIA since 2009, where fresh out of the Purchase College Cinema Studies program, he began as an editorial assistant. Since, he’s honed both his writing and karaoke skills and been trusted with the responsibility of jury duty at Austin’s incredible Fantastic Fest. Zimmerman lives in and hails from The Bronx, New York where his pants are too tight and he’ll watch anything with witches.